[Pro]

Here is a sketch design I did awhile back for a project called "Dragon Warriors." They made some maquettes and few other advertising goodies, but it never really took off.




[ January 07, 2002: Message edited by: Pro ]

[drgn]

niiiiiiice - love it - the reflection looks kinda weird - thats if it is a reflection, other than that it looks wicked

[ January 03, 2002: Message edited by: drgn ]

[Pro]

Ooops! No that's not a reflection. Sorry, I should have posted the entire drawing. That is the backside of this costume, another view of the same character.

[Highfive]

Wow! It all looks fantastic! Your sketching style looks awesome and it must be really quick, too. The curved plates on his legs look very stylish and sexy (for lack of a better word).

Only crit I could offer is that the chest plate doesn't share the same curves. That's hardly an issue, though.

[Quasar]

Wow another Craig Mullins level artist here. Great work man this is nice !!! I looked over your website and all I can say is..

It's funny it looks like both you and Craig take some influence from Berkey ..

[ January 04, 2002: Message edited by: Quasar ]

[Magicman]

you�ve a particularized close up of the guys head on your page, right?

i�ve seen it 7 month ago, or so...

...but this amaze me also like your other stuff.

hmm, how long does it takes you?

[snarf]

Holy Shit.

[madmouth]

oh, wow. colour it, it'll look amazing. really impressive stuff here

[Zorglub]

Wow, you have an excellent sense of anatomy.
It's super-hero, comic book like, only much better

[DarkStalker1]

Really a great pic I just wish the were more detail so I could paint it !

[jr]

greg, have you seen iain mccaig's drawings? you two draw very similiar! it looks great, what does the finish look like?

[Ian Jones]

Thats is indeed a cool drawing, and your sketching is very good.

[Pro]

Highfive- Thank you for the comment about my sketch style. In the case of these designs I had to move fast. I felt the pressures of deadlines creeping up behind me.

Quasar- No. Craig is the man. Actually, John Berkey is the man......then Craig (lol). I only say this because John is a good friend of mine and has given me so much help through the years. I try to help other students as a way to give back what John has given to me. Believe me not only is John Berkey one of the greatest illlustrators of our time, but he is the kindest person i have ever met.

Magicman- This is not the same character as on my web site. Although he is from the same project. I did many different dragon warriors for this job. I'll post a few more later. I did these sketches pretty fast, there was no time to research or photograph models. I was given a write up or brief description and off I went.

snarf- ahh ok thanks.

madmouth-Thanks! I don't think I'll color this. I 've had enough of dragon warriors.

Zorglub- Thank you so much.

DarkStalker1- Kind of a boring pose to paint I think.

jr.- Ian McCaig is a great artist. I had the pleasure of seeing him work about 7 or 8 years ago. He and I were on the same project coming up with character sketches. Damn! that guy was fast. No reference at all. I learned allot from him. I even posed for him on occasion so he could quickly jot down a figure action that he was thinking of. He showed me a whole new way to think in terms of sketching. In appreciation I gave him a Loomis book that he didn't have. He was so grateful he gave me a big hug. Ian is a great talent and a real nice guy. I hope to cross paths with him again someday.

Ian Jones- Thank you.

[ January 04, 2002: Message edited by: Pro ]

[jr]

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! awesome, i'm a huge fan of his work but it's soo hard to find it around the net. he doesn't use any photo references???? goodness!
such inspiriering artwork, i'll have to work that much harder! thanks for sharing your work greg!

[Derek]

Yow, this is weird. I just sent an email to Greg about how similar to Iain's work some of his drawing is...

Iain's been a friend and my mentor for about ten years, have learned a ton from him. As for not using reference... well, he's got a great visual vocabulary in his head, has drawn a ton and is fast. But he does use refrerence as he needs it! Shame on anyone for thinking you can do without it!!! Still, he can fling things out of a pencil incredibly quickly...

[Pro]

jr- Here is a little Ian McCaig tidbit I picked up from him. Your going to love this! I know you know what a kneaded eraser is, but for the sake of others who don't, it's a small gray pliable eraser. Anyway, Ian would take the eraser and quickly sculpt the shape of a human head to use as a model to position under his desk lamp to get a variety of lighting effects. This of course was done in the design studio we were at. If he was doing storyboards he would try and make it resemble the actor that he was drawing. Of course it wasen't a perfect likeness, but the main shapes were ther and gave him the starting point to work with. I tell you he could nail a likeness of any actor just by looking at photographs of them for a short while and studying the basic bone structure the day before. An amazing talent he is.

[Pro]

Geeeez, I just realized I mispelled Iain. Sorry, guess I didn't study how to spell his name correctly.

[LoTekK]

using a kneaded eraser to get lighting and shadows? damn, that's brilliant!!! i think i'm going to be getting some strange looks in class when i start modelling stuff with my putty eraser instead of listening to lectures...

[Derek]

If anyone needs further support of what Greg mentioned above about Iain (and yeah the kneaded eraser sculpt is a blast, and a great idea!) look at Iain's boards for Hook or Interview with a Vampire, or the drawings he did of his 'hopefuls' for Phantom Menace! Nails them alright. Last time I saw him we did a bit of a portrait workshop so to speak, and man it was a real eye-opener. Took my understanding of how to break through someone's character and essence in photos and get it to live in even a five minute drawing!

Anyway, to keep this on topic, ummm... cool drawing Greg. Wow, and all that stuff...

Oh, and one more Iain tidbit if you will... when you're working on full character poses... work from the feet up, not from the head down. Watch what this does for your proportion, dynamics, and it's a great cure-all for the dreaded 'cut them off at the knees' disease!

[ January 04, 2002: Message edited by: Derek Smith ]

[Quasar]

Pro it's nice to hear that some of the top level concept artists are good hearted guys. I was talking with a guy who worked at ILM on Phantom Menace for awile and he had worked all around hollywood and he said most of the people he worked with where dicks!!

Ian came off as being really nice in the interviews I have read. I am not sure how well he takes his art being rejected though I heard he did'nt like it to much when ol Lucas would give his work about 1 second thought and stamp him with the ol reject stamp. Anyways he was going to do an online workshop for people who wanted to learn to draw and paint . He had mentioned that he would have a website where people could come and learn how to do art. I thought it was a great idea but it never seemed to pan out. If anyone is interested you can see the interview here

Iain Interview

[Derek]

Quasar...
That online workshop and class is still in the process of being developed; I'll not put any details here, but it will happen in one of many possible forms. Iain's just swamped right now, and the development may not come as fast as some would like.
As for George's stamp... a lot of stuff got the OK, when what you really wanted was the Fabuloso!

[LoTekK]

derek, about the "working from the feet up" bit, i've never been successful using that method (it's actually the first time i've ever heard that suggested... )
what i normally do (not that i'm any expert, mind you), is what hogarth suggests (or was that loomis?): starting with the torso, and then doing the rest... that way you know the all-important center-of-gravity, and a couple of other stuff, as well...

[Derek]

I think it works well because it gives your character a foundation, solid standing and balance. Starting with the torso can be fine, but doesn't get to the meat of the pose or action so to speak. It's very important to understand the torso and how the limbs work into it, and how they work out from it as well if you take my meaning. Really though, whichever means works well for you as long as you get a great gesture, balance, sense of weight, proportion, anatomy, etc...

[jr]

greg, derek,
i use to do that eraser trick in jr highschool, i use to make them into garfield and simpsons characters (really pathetic likenesses though).
a few years ago i met Drew struzan while working in the society of illustrators in new york. he was very helpful and down to earth and he gave me some really useful advice. i was surprised the most successful illustrator in the world would take the time to talk to a 19 year old art school wierdo. i find that these working professional artists are usally great guys.
i hope to see mccaig in action soon! i've been absorbing his artwork for a few years now. bah! i wish i was in the west coast.

[wigin]

ian mccaig.com hehe that would be cool.... Im a big fan of his work. Its soo hard to find on the net..
anyone have any good links with alot of concepts or some of his work?

[Derek]

iainmccaig.com is still in progress, and no there aren't a lot of links to his work. You can find bits and pieces if you look around, but it's not easy. By far the most in one place is in the Art of TPM. But as that's mostly concept stuff, it is limited in scope (it is Star Wars after all) and in the material used, since markers are fast... those of you who have to play on other people's universes will know what I mean. Still, it is fantastic stuff. Also if you're lucky you could come across a copy of Casket of Souls, but don't hold your breath and be sure to save your pennies in case you do!
Aside from his draftsmanship, he's an amazing watercolorist.
I'm going to let him know he's become a subject of some interest here and see if he has any input on what I may say here about some leads to his work.

[wigin]

hey derek how did you meet Ian/become goof friends? Worked on a job with him, long time friends from kindergarden, went to highschool with him or went to college??

Interesting .. Lucky bastard you... The only artist i know from montreal ( not much but we have talked ) is Kun Chang which he worked on star Wars episode 1. he was a concept artist. Hmm his work is in the Art of SWEP1 book on a few pages. He did concepts for accessories like light sabers and gungans belts ect...ect.... COol stuff really. Other than that thats as close to a professional artist that i know ...

Oh and my next door neighboor in toronto which is a animation teacher at Sheridan ( he teaches character design and animation) he worked on Titan Ae as a character designer... Not sure about the other teachers in sheridan and there accomplishments... i know that the animation history teacher knew Ollie Jonhston and was his coworker soo he was sortof part of the nine old men or whatever that is.. or was he one of them i dont know.. anyways...

[Derek]

Have known Iain for about ten years, he's probably my oldest friend, if not certainly up there... we met when he was a guest one weekend of a group I was working for. Hit if off pretty quickly and have been good friends since.
He mentored me through my time in an illustration program, and would crit and teach me things as he could, as we had time. Storyboarding, lighting, timing, portraits, much more; he's a great source and one who can get his points and ideas across in an understood and accessible way, and everything holds his passion and energy for what he is teaching and doing.
I've only worked with Terryl Whitlatch, Kurt Kaufman, Doug Chiang, Robert Barnes, Mark Siegel and a couple of other LFL folks-though not all of them so directly as that may sound! Iain and I have yet to do so together, going to change soon though I think. Also have been a student and now good friend of Ralph McQuarrie, and with the influence of these two my work takes off in all kinds of directions.
Anyway, that's my nutshell version.
As for the image up above... wondering if Greg plans on posting anything on his approach to character design, drawing, etc...

[Magicman]

does john berkey have a official webpage?

[wigin]

Hmmmm you talk as if its nothing to work with these people ..

quote " I have ONLY ONLY ONLY ONLY worked with .... Doug Chiang..." hehehe =) ONLY eh? Well if it makes you feel better im in art college with a bunch of people that dont know the first thing about drawing and painting... You should consider yourself a very fortunate and lucky man to have these people as friends and im sure these great artist are pleased to be friends with you Mr derek... Hmmm who do you work for now???

And if you dont mind me asking what do youmean you have BECOME a student of ralph mcquarie ? you study his work or he sit down with you and teaches you stuff HAHAH..

Anyways onto the post topic. Im with derek and wondering if Greg plans on posting anything on his approach to character design, drawing, etc...